Kankhal

City and sacred site (tirtha) three miles
south of the city of Haridwar in the state
of Uttar Pradesh. Kankhal is most
famous for the Daksha Mahadev temple, dedicated to the god Shiva in his
form as “Daksha’s Lord.” This temple’s
charter myth is one of the most famous
of all the stories of Shiva. Daksha is one
of the sons of the god Brahma and the
father of Sati, the goddess whom
Daksha gives in marriage to Shiva. When
Daksha feels that Shiva has not shown
him proper respect, he plans a great sacrifice to which he invites all the gods,
but purposely excludes Shiva. When Sati
asks why her husband has been excluded,
Daksha responds with a stream of
abuse, denouncing Shiva as worthless
and despicable. Humiliated, Sati commits suicide. Shiva is furious when he
hears of Sati’s death, and in his rage creates the fierce deities Virabhadra and
Bhadrakali. He then comes storming
with his minions (gana) to the sacrificial
ground, completely destroying the sacrifice, and cuts off Daksha’s head.
Daksha is eventually restored to life,
repents his foolish pride, and asks Shiva
to remain at that site forever, which he
agrees to do.
There are numerous smaller temples
near the Daksha Mahadev temple, some
of which are dedicated to figures associated with this story, such as Virabhadra.
Across the street from the Daksha temple is a large ashram, or religious community, built by devotees (bhakta) of
the Bengali mystic Anandamayi Ma.
The ashram also contains her samadhi
shrine, or burial place.